


The Town of Blood and Rivers

by CatrionaKirke



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-01
Updated: 2019-02-18
Packaged: 2019-05-16 21:19:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 11
Words: 15,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14819081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CatrionaKirke/pseuds/CatrionaKirke
Summary: For years, Riverdale has been held in the grip of a madness, tortured by beasts that have been twisted by a mysterious plague. The only way to fight the beasts is by mysterious blood transfusions that grant unnatural healing ability and strength. Once a month, the people of the town gather to celebrate a hunt, where beasts burn in the street and it seems as though no one is safe out on the streets of Riverdale. Each month the hunts have been getting longer, and a day might come when the hunt never ends.When Betty Cooper's sister Polly goes missing on the night of the hunt, she seeks out the help of Archie Andrews, her sweetheart next door, Jughead Jones, an angry loner who has refused any transfusions, and Veronica Lodge, a new member of the nobility in town who is hiding secrets of her own.  Soon the group uncovers the most unnatural murder of Jason Blossom, the only son of the Blossom family of Blood, and they must solve the mystery before the hunt is over.This will start off loosely based on events in Season 1 (with canonical pairings) only to go wildly off the rails as the story takes a life of its own. This is heavily inspired by the video game Bloodborne, but I've messed with the lore a bit.





	1. Chapter 1

It had been so long since he had experienced the taste of bread, the warmth of meat, the juicy sweetness of an apple. It had seemed like lifetimes since his feet had felt the cool grass, since he could properly recall the blonde of her hair. All he knew was the dripping of water, the stench of the sewers. His head hung low, so low that his spine creaked, he could feel the pressure in every vertebrae. 

Distantly he could hear the moaning of the dead, the screams of those who liked to burn whether they be beast or not. He knew it was happening, the Hunt was starting, and yet there he was, hands tied, lips bloodied. 

Almost like he had been caught. 

_Jason Blossom drowned in Sweetwater River_ the newspapers would read, if they still ran. If anything mattered as the madness gripped Riverdale. 

He could hear footsteps. 

The desperate creaking of rust gumming up the joint of a blade as it moved. 

He raised his head. 

_I'm sorry, Polly. Cheryl. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry._

There was a lantern burning over the man's shoulder. It swung gently in a wind that didn't exist. He followed that light with his eyes, skipping a little to the right, skipping a little to the left...there was beauty in the lantern, it made him momentarily forget the pain in his ribs, in his spine. He looked up into the dispassionate eyes of a snake, and in that moment everything flashed before him.

_Cheryl sitting in the parlor at Thorn Hill, her hands crossed in her lap, long red curls spilling over her shoulder. She looks up at him with tear-filled brown eyes.  
"Aren't you scared, Jason?" _

_Polly is pulling him closer, holding him tightly after telling him the news. His heart thuds in his chest and he can feel hers as well.  
"We can run during the next Hunt," she whispers to him. "The farm will accept us, we can work there."_

_Cheryl is stepping into a row-boat, dressed in white so fine that it may be the only white dress left in Riverdale. There's too much blood to properly wear that clothing. But Cheryl is Cheryl, refusing to allow a single Beast to sully her even now._

_Polly is looking into his eyes at Pop's, ignoring the strained look on her sister's face a few booths away as she tries not to watch the spectacle. Polly is amused as she explains that her parents don't approve._

"Are you ready, Beast?" a voice says. Jason shakes his head, blood is on his lips. The lamp swings and dances...a little to the left...a little to the right...

"I'm no Beast," he says. "I haven't even had the transfusion." 

The voice snorts. He hears more footsteps. The lantern swings to the left...to the right....

and BAM. 

Jason Blossom is gone. 

*  
 _From the writings of Jughead Jones:_

_In this madness it's easy to forget the smaller things. For years Riverdale has been overtaken by blood frenzy, by the Beast, and yet there are some who remember the old days, when Pop's didn't need to burn the incense to keep creatures away, when Riverdale High taught something other than how to wield a weapon. When everything wasn't tied to the Hunt, a nightly function run by the Blossom family. It's easy to forget how things used to be, in the midst of all this killing._

_Which is why it's so strange when someone dies under unnatural circumstances, like the tale of Jason Blossom._

_On July the 4th, Jason and his sister, the Lady Cheryl, took to a boat on the Sweetwater River. Cheryl was found later, river water soaked into her dress and tears on her face._

_It is strange for a man to drown in these times._

_But it is stranger still to discover what happened next._

_For at that very moment, a certain blonde haired girl next door was preparing to take to the streets of Riverdale while the moon hung high in the sky and the creatures roamed...._


	2. Chapter 2

Betty knew that keeping her hair in a ponytail was the smartest thing to do in the world she lived in, but sometimes even then it felt too tight. Her most recent infusion sang in her veins as she leaned forward in the mirror, studying her face as though trying to find her sister somewhere in the lines. Her bedroom was still a confection of pink leftover from childhood, but she didn't feel like a child, not anymore. 

Kevin Keller, one of her best friends in the entire world, lounged gracefully on the pink lace of her bed, puzzling through one of the rare magazines that still made it over the Sweetwater bridge. 

"The world is ending and Kim Kardashian is still getting work done," he quipped as he turned the page. 

"It's not so bad in the cities," Betty replied as she shrugged into her leather vest. It constricted her ribs in a way that almost made her choke, but she felt safe in it. Nothing loose, nothing to grab. "Better fortifications, the plague's been locked out." 

Kevin looked up at her from over the magazine, his eyes narrowed. "I don't understand why you left LA. Why would you come back here? This is as backwater and dangerous as it gets."

Betty looked at Kevin in the mirror, pressing her pink lips tightly together. "I mean, Polly went missing after Jason drowned, and someone needs to find her before it's too late. It's the night of the hunt, after all." 

He studied her face before giving a great sigh. "That's not it, not all the way, anyway."

Red flushed to Betty's cheeks. "I may...I may have asked Archie to help me find her." 

Kevin cried out in excitement, rolling onto his back and staring at Betty upside down. "See, that's more like it. Are you going to finally tell him how you feel?"

"I...think I might!" 

Whatever teenage happiness they could have felt in that moment was rattled by the sound of howling, by men screaming back and forth to each other. Betty shivered at the madness that threaded their voices, did they even hunt a beast? Would it be another person from another town? Greendale, maybe? Someone that was a stranger and therefore alright to kill? The thought made Betty shiver terribly. 

"My dad's out there tonight," Kevin whispered, his voice trembled a bit. 

"Mine's not," Betty replied. "My mom won't let him go."

"And she'll let you go?" 

"I'm sneaking out, of course." 

Kevin's eyes glanced over to the bars on Betty's windows, installed back when the plague had just started, when people had started to lose their minds. Betty tilted her head, feigning confusion, before she took something from her desk and walked over to the window. It was a screwdriver. 

"See, the problem with my mother is that she forgets one extremely important thing," Betty said as she worked on the bolts keeping the bars on. "I'm the handy Cooper sister." 

It only took a few more minutes before the bars popped off. Betty swung one leg over the ledge and turned to Kevin. 

"Could you pass me my ax, please?" She asked. "Can't leave Archie waiting."

#

_And so it goes, the princess no longer locked in the tower, free of her own accord. But even if she doesn't need saving, a princess might still want a prince..._

Seated in the booth at Pop's, Archie plunged the hypodermic needle deep into his skin, letting out a shaky breath as the blood flowed through him, invigorating him in a way that almost made his head swim. It was his fault for getting too close to the South Side, where the plague still ran rampant and people seemed to think everyone was a potential enemy. Pop's watched from a respectful but worried distance, before walking over and putting a strawberry milkshake in front of him.

"On the house," Pop's said. 

"Thanks, Pop," Archie said with a smile. He settled into his thoughts as Pop Tate walked away, thinking about Betty and how she hadn't seen him all summer, disappearing to a safer city, missing all the "fun". Fun like Jason Blossom drowning on the fourth of July right in front of his own twin sister, Cheryl. Or the fact that Archie had a terrible secret just aching inside of him. Should he tell her? 

"Do you even need to drink with that blood stuff inside of you?" a voice asked in front of him. "Or is that just for show?"

Archie looked up and over, locking eyes with none other than Jughead Jones, his (probably former) best guy friend. A laptop glowed in front of him, casting ghostly shadows across his face. Thank God the internet still mostly worked. "Hey Jug, you know it's not like that. It's just for healing and stuff. People are running out of incense on Maplewood Street."

Jughead's face remained a stone wall, not allowing Archie in. Archie supposed he deserved that. Jughead focused back on his computer screen, typing with uncanny speed. 

"Started writing again, huh?" Archie asked. 

Jughead said nothing. 

"What's it about?"

Jughead's eyes flicked up to Archie again, almost annoyed at the interruption. "I'm writing about Jason," he replied tersely. The admission tied Archie's stomach into knots. 

"With everything else that's going on, you focus on some kid drowning?" Archie hoped he sounded normal. 

"People don't die of normal stuff anymore, Arch," Jughead replied. "It's weird that Jason just up and drowned." 

It was. Especially given what Archie knew...

The bell rang merrily as the door opened, and as though she were perfectly on cue, Betty Cooper appeared. A little bit of ash was smeared on one cheek, but she otherwise looked fine. 

"Betty!" Archie stood and took her into his arms. They stood there for a moment, had it really been three months since they had seen each other?

"Hey! Sorry I'm running late, Sheriff Keller caught a beast over on Peach Street and the fire was...quite messy." She rubbed at her cheek, missing the ash entirely. 

_And so the two best friends sat across from each other. Boy and girl next door, able to forge the simplest of love stories out of unending chaos. Little did they know that something wicked might be coming their way..._

"I have something I wanted to tell you," Betty said after they had caught up properly. Archie watched Jughead duck his head down, the points of the crown on his beanie being the only thing visible behind his laptop screen.

It's probably about Polly, he thought. Everyone knew about it, especially at school. Jason had dumped Polly pretty publicly back right as school ended, Betty had already left by then, she hadn't been there. They said she was locked away now, or contracted the plague, or threw herself to any number of horrors that could be found in the woods by Sweetwater River. Her face looked hopeful as she opened her mouth...

The bell rang as the door opened, and there she was. 

Archie had never seen her before, but she walked as though she had known of Pop's all her life, and had no reason to be afraid. She wore her raven black hair loose around her shoulders, while a black, flowing cape hung across her shoulders. 

"Did you hear me?" Betty asked. 

"Huh?"

The girl walked over to Pop as he held a bag aloft. Obviously she was ordering takeout, which might have been suicide were it not for the car clearly waiting outside for her. There was something about her smile, Archie decided. She smiled as though she knew a secret that pleased her. Her eyes were black, cutting, she sized everyone up. Archie hoped he wasn't lacking. 

Betty turned to look at what Archie was seeing, her eyes widening in sudden surprise. 

"She's asking to be dragged into the depths with a cape like that," Betty said. 

"Yeah," Archie said dreamily, not paying much attention. 

_And there it was, in perfect relief. Two girls: one raven hair, one golden, just like something out of a fairy tale. The problem with fairy tales, however, is that lurking not too far behind the fair maiden is a monster, and Veronica Lodge knew the biggest monster of all..._


	3. Chapter 3

_Archie, I just saw ourselves tackling this year as this amazing power couple. I've always loved you, and I feel like you've always loved me, and I think it's time for us to take that to the next level..._

Those words in Betty's head started to dry up and float away. They were crisp, like ashes. Seeing Archie's face as he watched the girl walk, accept the food, and turn to leave made her stomach burn in a way she didn't know it could. She wanted to clench her fists, feel the quicksilver in her blood that she could so easily convert into bullets if she needed to. The mysterious girl looked up once, caught Archie's eye, and looked as though she had been stricken with something. She was dressed tastefully in a black so pure that she must have never gotten dirty, and Betty could see a beautiful gold cross on a thin strand of pearls wrapped around her neck. Could she be a member of the Healing Church?  Betty filed away her suspicions as a man in a black coat entered the diner, taking the bag of food from her and leading her away.

"What's a girl like that doing in a dump like this?" Jughead said idly as he watched her walk away. 

"She looks like a city girl," Archie said, sounding far more like a country boy than he actually was. "Which doesn't make sense, given that the cities are safer these days."

Betty usually liked hearing her words repeated back as though it was Archie's own idea, but for some reason it didn't charm her this time. 

"I guess I'll find out," she chimed in. "I'm the school welcome wagon, aren't I?"

She hoped that Archie couldn't read the look on her face, the disappointment, the shattered expectation. She had come back from Los Angeles fully ready to take what she wanted, but it's not like she could do anything if that person didn't want her. Luckily, Archie didn't notice her slight change in demeanor. 

However, Jughead did. 

Distantly, a horn called. 

The hunt had begun. 

Archie, Betty, and Jughead all exchanged nervous glances. It had begun...

But when would it  _end?_

 

#

Veronica Lodge thought that exile would be more glamorous than this. Perhaps she had imagined herself running across the border, to place where maybe beasts didn't exist anymore. She thought it would be an extended vacation, maybe hiding out in Majorca or Ibiza. One of the usual haunts. 

Instead they were in a  _suite_. In the  _Five Seasons_. 

In  _Riverdale_.

Her pearl choker seemed almost too tight that morning, the cross pressed against the hollow of her collarbone, annoyingly reminding her of its presence. She didn't know how to dress for public school, and even worse, her mother was forbidding her to allow her to carry her favorite weapon.

"Let's not flaunt it all," her mother had said the night before as she turned the lock on the closet that would hide Veronica's saw. "Nothing is going to attack you to and from school, especially with Smithers driving you." 

"I was allowed to carry it in New York, and you only find beasts in the  _subway_ there, we  _never_ took the subway."

"Hush,  _mija_ ," her mother had said. "You may take your pistol. Please, let's not fight about this."

So she hadn't fought about it, but the pistol on her hip had given her cold comfort as she faced the halls of Riverdale High. She was impressed that school was still on during the hunt, perhaps this was their status quo, but there was a nervous look on the faces of a few kids. Maybe their parents were out there, fighting the good fight and keeping the plague in check. 

Unlike her father. She felt the usual pang of shame about it, but kept her head high.

No one in the halls carried a weapon, and the smell of incense in the air probably was the reasons for that. For some reason it kept the beasts away, Veronica breathed in deep. It almost smelled like home. 

"Veronica?" a voice asked, snapping her out of her well of self-pity. A charming looking blonde girl, girl-next-door to the extreme, right down to the pony tail and sweater-jeweled collar combo, smiled at her. 

"Yes?"

"Hi, welcome to Riverdale! Principal Weatherbee assigned me to help you get comfortable here at school. I'm Betty Cooper."

Betty Cooper, of  _course_ she was named that. 

"Thank God you're here because I need the 411," Veronica immediately announced, slipping her arm through Betty's as they began to walk down the hall. 

"You won't get that from her," another voice said, revealing itself to be a solidly built guy with an All-American smile. "I'm Kevin Keller, and  _you_ are fabulous."

There was a twang to his voice that made Veronica squeal. "And you're gay! Oh thank God!" She offered him her other arm, which he accepted with a grin. "There's hope for this town after all!"

The hallways were filled with kids as they collected their books from lockers. Most of them had clearly received the blood ministration that gave them a rosy blush of health, but not all of them. Betty actually waved at a pallid looking boy with a beanie shaped like a crown who looked as though he didn't even know what blood was, let alone that it could safe his life. He barely looked like he knew what sleep was. 

"That's Jughead," Kevin explained. "He conscientiously objected to the blood ministration, and they let him because he didn't have the plague."

"Wow," Veronica replied. "Didn't know you could do that."

"Jug's always been tenacious about stuff he believes in," Betty answered. "Even if it's kind of...weird? Oh! There's..."

Her throat clammed up as soon as she saw him, the sunlight streaming through his red hair, the smile lighting up his face as he noticed her walking towards him. Her heart climbed for a moment, before immediately plummeting to the depths of nowhere as his eyes shifted over to rest on Veronica, that strange stricken look coming to his eyes again. 

"Who is  _that_?" Veronica asked with awe in her voice. "I didn't know they grew guys like him out here."

Kevin, like an angel from heaven, swooped in, directing them over to a lounge area where they could sit. "That's Archie, he and Betty are clearly end-game. Right, Betty?"

Betty thought of how terribly she had crashed and burned at Pop's. "Sure, I mean...eventually."

"You didn't talk to him?" Kevin asked, his eyes widening in overdramatic horror. "After all the pep-talks I gave you on the phone all summer?"

Veronica might have been interested in potentially talking to that hot slab of red-headed meat, but hearing Betty hold her obvious crush for him closely, almost like a baby bird, made her heart melt a little bit. 

"I...didn't exactly blow it..."

"Of course she did."

Already Veronica could see Betty tense up, as a tall, leggy girl with a waterfall of red hair seemed to materialize in the chair across from them. Veronica had a feeling that she hadn't been noticed because the red leather she was wearing (bright, cherry-like), was almost exactly the same color as the upholstery of the chair she was sitting in. Amazing boots though. 

"Those are amazing boots," Kevin breathed. 

The girl crossed one leg over another in acknowledgement, tilting her head up as though she were modeling an imaginary crowd. 

"Coopers always blow it, don't they?"

"Don't, Cheryl," Betty murmured. 

"Cheryl," the girl said to Veronica. "Cheryl Blossom. Scion of Blossom Ministrations. Icon. Bombshell. Nice to meet you...we could use some class around here."

"Um. Hi."

"Looks like I came just in time," Cheryl continued. "To save you from absolute social suicide."

"Stop it, Cheryl," Betty growled. "You're just angry because-"

"Because my brother is dead?" Something wet glittered in Cheryl's eyes, and Veronica's spine stiffened. What the hell was going on? As though picking up ion the confusion, Cheryl addressed Veronica. "My brother drowned over the summer. It's a complete tragedy, as I loved him more than I love even myself, and I love myself a lot." 

"I'm sorry, Cheryl," Betty mumbled. 

"Betty is just angry because right before my brother died, he made her sister go nuts just by dumping her." 

Betty looked down at her clenched hands, feeling the blood flow already as her nails cut the half moons into her palms. That rage was rising inside of her again, the rage that came with each new blood vial she injected, but she kept to herself. Isn't it always like the rich, popular girl to be a total bitch as well? Maybe it was only a matter of time before Cheryl came to claim Veronica. 

The bell rang. 

"Sit with me in biology?" Cheryl asked Veronica.

"No thanks," the raven-haired girl replied. "I'd rather sit with my friends." 

Betty knew that the cool thing to do would be to keep a straight face, but she couldn't help the broad smile that broke out on her face as her and Veronica linked arms again. Kevin jumped up beside them, joining them and leaving Cheryl behind. 

"I hope this doesn't create drama," Betty said with a queasy stomach.

"I kind of hope it does," Kevin admitted. 

"Either way, don't worry about it," Veronica said. "Beasts aren't the only thing that I slay."

As the trio walked away, Cheryl watched them with steely eyes. Two of her minions alighted on either side of her, watching the three walk away with curious looks. 

"Who's the new girl?" one minion said. 

"No one, or soon to be," Cheryl replied smoothly. "I just need you to hand out a few specific party invitations..." 

_The young, innocent girl next door might have thought that she was strong enough to fight the unimaginable terrors that stalked the streets of Riverdale, but little did she know that the worst enemy she would face would be nothing other than the storming tempest that went by the name Cheryl Blossom..._

 


	4. Chapter 4

"I think you should ask him to the dance," Veronica said plainly, fixing Betty with her sharp, dark eyes. Betty could feel the hairs on the back of her neck stand up at the thought of it, especially given how strange Archie had been for the past few days, but at the same time maybe fortune will favor the bold.

Jughead slumped next to them, tuning out the inane conversation as he focused on his laptop. With the light, it's not particularly helpful to write outdoors, even under the shade of a large, scarred oak, but when you're bitten with the writing bug there's not much you can do otherwise. 

"Hey, Hemingway," Veronica delicately placed her antique, carved chopsticks neatly beside the bento box she had brought for lunch, fixing Jughead with an intrigued stare. "What are you writing?"

Jughead's moody, sleep-deprived eyes flicked up to her, before flicking back down to the screen. "I'm doing a sort of true-crime novel about a mysterious death in a small town."

"With the plague, hardly any death is mysterious," Veronica quipped. 

"You would be surprised."

"You're writing about Jason Blossom?" Betty said, leaning over to take a peek at the words on Jughead's laptop. "That is pretty strange, from what I hear."

Something awkward flickered between them, an acknowledgement of Betty's rather unique position, given the fact that her sister Polly had a vested interest in Jason's life. She had paid for it dearly. 

"You know, the Blossom name sounds so familiar," Veronica mused. "And not just because of that strawberry-haired hot mess Cheryl...what does the family do again?"

It was such an aristocratic way of speaking, that for a moment Betty and Jughead just looked at her blankly. Jughead sighed. 

"When the plague swept through the area, the Blossoms were the first to patent and distribute the blood ministrations, at least in this area. Turns out Blossom blood is particularly good for the procedure, so they became moguls. Jason was the golden boy and his twin Cheryl was...well, you've met her." 

"There's a black sheep in every family," Betty said in an attempt to be charitable. 

"Or a red sheep in this case, but on July 4th, Jason and Cheryl went on a boat ride in Sweetwater River, apparently the boat was capsized by a few water beasts, and only Cheryl got out alive."

Veronica raised her eyebrows, impressed in spite of herself. She had seen the creatures in the water once, from the George Washington Bridge. They had piled themselves in a pathetic corner, screaming as one of the coast guard took potshots at them with silver bullets from the safety of their own decks. That night Veronica had dreams of grasping, waterlogged arms. Of flesh white like marble. For Cheryl to survive that is amazing. 

"That's a tragedy, and a waste of good blood, I guess. But what makes it so interesting to write about? It's a drowning." 

"Is it?" Jughead asked. "I find it hard to believe that Cheryl made it away from those things but the captain of the football team didn't." 

"Maybe they were busy," Veronica countered. 

"Or maybe someone's lying," Jughead replied.

"Jughead, have you heard anything about my sister?" Betty asked. "She was gone when I got back from LA and my mom refuses to tell me where she went." 

There was a pause while Jughead seemed to mull over something, and it made Betty's heart sick to think about what rumors he must be picking through to see what Betty would be willing to hear. It was a bit of Jughead's sweet side poking out, so rare under his layers of sarcasm. 

"I heard she went into an asylum," Jughead replied finally. "But I don't know which one."

God, weren't there too many?

"How Victorian," Veronica said. 

"Well, I'd like to find her," Betty replied. "I need to know that she's safe."

Jughead held her gaze, and for a moment Betty saw a flicker of something in his eyes, as though he had just seen Betty for the first time. She could feel her cheeks grow hot, and looked away. 

"So, you think I should ask Archie to the dance, Veronica?" 

Happy to be treading back into calmer, more exciting waters, Veronica nodded. 

"Obviously! You two seemed lined up already, so how could he say no?"

"You're right..."

"It'll be perfect."

Jughead tuned it out, turning back to his screen. Yeah. Perfect.

Archie and Betty, together forever...

 

Perfect.

#

She had been avoiding him, Archie knew this. He could feel her missing in the hallways as he walked past, as though she had caught a glimpse of him coming and fled before he could see her. Only the linger of her perfume, gardenias and sugar, remained. 

This drove Archie insane, after a summer beside her, the sheer fact that she ran from him now was almost unfair, but he knew, in a way, that it was all part of the game. 

He caught her in the lull between classes, when he knew she had a free period and he knew that the chaos of science class would keep his absence unnoticed. She stood in her classroom, at the window, her hair knotted in the back of her head, her glasses suspended in one hand, as though his presence had interrupted her in a private moment. 

"We can't," Ms. Grundy said. Her voice trembled. She was so delicate. Too delicate. Archie walked to her and placed his hands on his arms. He knew this was what she needed. 

"We can," he replied as though reading off of a script. This was what she needed. She needed to fight, to give in, she needed Archie to play the part of a man who simply could not help himself. She needed all of that to tell herself that it was okay. 

With a shudder, she gave in. It was quicker than usual, but her sigh felt like a sweet mixture of torture and relief. 

On the first kiss, he knew something was wrong. Not with her, but with him. She kissed him like she was drowning, but he pulled away from her with a start. 

"Wait," he said. "We need to talk."

She ignored him, kissing him again, hoping that his arms would wrap around her too tightly. She wanted him to pull her hair, to make it seem as wrong as it actually all was. 

"Ms. Grundy," he whispered. "Ms. Grundy..."

"Sh..." she mumbled against him. 

"No, Geraldine." The sternness of his voice finally stopped her. 

Disappointment flooded her eyes. They always looked slightly red, those eyes, as though she had been crying. She explained that it was a leftover side effect from her own blood ministration, she had been sick with the plague when it had been given to her, and it seemed as though she always had a touch of illness still. 

"What could we possibly need to talk about?" She replied with a sigh. 

There was a lot they needed to talk about, but most of it very much had to do with topics he didn't want to bring up at the moment, mostly about them, about what that meant, about how confused he was. He didn't bring any of that up, however, and instead cut immediately to the chase. 

"We need to talk about what happened at Sweetwater River on the Fourth of July," he said. Something flickered across her face, a refusal to acknowledge what had happened, which meant that she wouldn't have to talk about it. "We know we saw something, we...we heard that gunshot...there weren't any beasts in the area...." 

"Stop," she said quietly. "I know..."

"Geraldine, Jason's dead and we might know something about it, doesn't that mean anything to you?" 

She ran her thumb over his lower lip, shaking her head and stepping away. 

"I can't help,  _we_ can't help, I'd go to jail, Archie! You would also go to jail! If the Church of Healing heard anything about it? Forget it, we'd be burned as beasts ourselves."

Archie wanted to argue with her a hundred times over, but the bell rang, startling her too much, causing her to slip from his grasp and disappear into the hallway. He stood there for a moment, feeling the absence of her once again, before Betty, adorable Betty, best friend Betty, appeared in that same doorway.

"Hey Arch!" she cried with that same smile, that same genuine happiness to see him. "Could we talk for a moment?" 

_They say that you have to kiss a few frogs to get your prince, but what happens when your prince charming is hiding a few warts of his own? While Betty Cooper may have had Polly on the brain, her hope that love could conquer all set her up for a battle she couldn't possibly win._


	5. Chapter 5

Alice didn't like it.

She stood in the doorway, watching her daughter's eyes light up with excitement as she leaned forward, dabbing candy pink lipstick on her lips. Her daughters have always been like that, candy pink, adorably blonde, blue eyes. Alice could see the very best parts of herself displayed in her children, which was why Polly had been such a disappointment when it turned out that she was practically just like her secretly rotten mother. But not Betty. Betty was pure. She smiled at herself in her pretty pink dress, allowing her hair down for once, and twisted and turned in the mirror now, playing the role of the heroine of her own love story. It was a tremulous, heartbreaking moment.

And Alice didn't like it.

"You need to be careful out there tonight," Alice said to Betty, trying desperately to keep the frown from entering her voice.

On paper, her daughter was perfect. Wonderfully good with an ax (just in case), deliciously smart, full of extracurricular activities. She could get out of here, go to school in a city. Safely behind the walls, Betty could learn. She could get an education. She was going to throw all of that away on a _boy._

Archie Andrews wasn't her daughter's worst choice. It was an obvious one, really. The two of them had been circling the idea of being in love since they learned that there was a name for it, and probably even longer than that. It was a sad inevitability, she thought, that two friends of the opposite sex were bound to have to face this sooner rather than later. She wondered if her daughter was just playing the part expected of her. 

But her daughter turned to her, excitement simmering in her eyes. "It'll be fine, plenty of incense will be burning and Archie and I have our weapons for the walk there."

"A sword is a foolish weapon for a boy," Alice replied. "He's going to get you both killed if he isn't careful."

Betty rolled her eyes and smiled at her foolish mother, grabbing her small, beaded purse and the ax that leaned against her door frame. The doorbell rang, and Alice jumped.

"It will really be fine, mom, it's just Archie." 

That was the problem. Betty stood before her mother. 

"Are you going to move?" she asked in that teenager way. Alice stepped aside, but she couldn't let it go. She marched after her daughter. 

"Now, Elizabeth, if he wants anything from you, you know what to do, right?" 

"What could Archie possibly want from me?" Betty had left her ax in its transformed, much longer state. With practiced movements, she twisted it back to a more manageable size. Distantly (in the South Side, most likely), Alice could hear the cries of people screaming, the crackle of fire. That couldn't be right...they were so far from the South Side. 

Hal had opened the door, and there Archie stood. He wore a nice looking suit, smiling nervously, and beside him was a beautiful, black haired girl. 

"Hello, Archibald," Alice said coldly. "And this..."

"Mom, this is Veronica! She's also our date."

As Veronica beamed at Alice, Alice tried to remember where she might have heard that name before. The girl wore a clearly expensive dress, and shockingly did not carry a weapon at all. However, over the summer Archie had managed to bulk up quite a bit, he would probably be fine defense on the way to the dance. 

"Have fun, Elizabeth," Alice said, pecking her daughter on the cheek. "And be home by 10!" 

#

 

Sure, Betty hadn't expected Veronica to also be her date to the dance, but at least Archie was also there. How could Betty leave a new girl completely by herself? Especially given the fact that she seemed to refuse to carry any sort of weapon with her. Years of walking to school had dulled her sense of scandal when it came to the horrors that now littered Riverdale. Coffins lay on the side of the road, chained up with a desperate hand. They walked by a streetlight that had been converted into a makeshift execution space: a beast hung crucified against the street lamp, burning with a fire that cast a flickering orange light across the street. 

Betty did't particularly want to bring up the danger as the three of them walked, and she prayed that Veronica's lack of weaponry wouldn't be tested on the way. 

Of course, as always, Betty's prayers went unanswered. 

He could have been someone from Greendale, a person who had only recently succumbed to the beastly plague. Human skin still stretched over the beast's chest, fur angrily poking out and matted with gore. It's horrific maw gleamed in the firelight as it screamed at the crucified beast on the other side of the street. It walked over to it, cocking its head as it studied the corpse, before roaring again and turning its burning red eyes in the direction of the three. 

"Stay back, Veronica," Archie said as he drew his sword. It was a silly looking sword in his hand, Betty had decided. He looked almost like a little boy playing at knights. Then again, what could she possibly look like as she drew her ax, lengthening it to a good defensive length with a proper *click*. 

"Betty!" she heard Veronica cry, her voice laced with fear, as she lunged into the fray behind Archie. Archie hacked away at the beast's arms, spurts of fresh blood splattering on the ground like so much black ink. Betty hoped that her dress wouldn't be too messed up as she aimed for the neck, hearing a satisfying *THUNK* as she hit the spine. Archie and she jumped back to avoid the blood spray, thinking it done. 

Archie turned back to smile at Veronica, glorying in his victory so much that he did not notice when the beast began to rise once more. 

"Archie!" Betty cried, and he turned in horror, not ready for it. 

*THUNK*

The beast reared back, something sticking out of its eye. It gleamed in the light as the beast screamed and fell over, finally dead. Betty froze. She hadn't done anything, she had been too scared as she watched Archie almost get ripped apart by a beast. 

Veronica stood, ramrod straight, as she reached into her cloak for something else. 

"Wow," Archie said. Betty silently agreed. 

Veronica strode over to the body and grabbed the hilt that was sticking out of the creature's eye. "My mother thinks that it's vulgar to walk around carrying weaponry. But I don't agree with her. Once she told me 'Veronica, if you want to carry a weapon, make it one of your father's ancestral guns. At least bring some fashion to it.' I never did though."

The blade that she pulled out of the beast's eye was wickedly sharp, and the darkness of the steel seemed strange to Betty as she watched the raven-haired girl carefully clean the blade on the edge of her cape. 

"I'm not a fan of guns," she replied. "Mostly because I like to believe in the classic adage... blades don't need reloading." 

The sharp knife disappeared into the folds of her cloak once more, and the three continued on to the school dance.

#

Cheryl Blossom preferred to wear red, even if she was in mourning. That's how it felt, of course, with Jason gone. She had worn white on the day he left, and she didn't know if she ever wanted to wear that color again. Maybe she would be married in black. Maybe she would never be married at all. Her thoughts raced as she stood in the middle of dancing teens, trying to sooth the tempest in her heart. Minions flanked on either side, and she ignored their pathetic attempts at being nice. 'Oh Cheryl, this red dress makes you look like a bombshell'. Please. Of course it does. Everything makes her look like a bombshell. She's Cheryl  _fucking_ Blossom. 

The roiling in her heart continued as she watched the little dramas played out. Moose ditching Midge to whisper with Kevin Keller in a corner, Dilton Doiley attempting to speak to  _anyone_. It was all so boring. Already so done. 

Luckily, Archie Andrews and his small harem of women had decided to make an entrance. There was Betty, pretty in pink with a smile to match, her dress a tasteful, boring piece of bubblegum. There was Veronica, the mysterious new girl, with her beautifully blown out black hair and daring black dress. Amazing. Just because Andrews had become some sort of smoke show over the summer didn't mean that he should be this successful this quickly...

But she saw the look on Betty's face. The hope. She saw Archie trying not to look at Veronica. She turned to her minions.

"Do me a favor and make sure those three are definitely coming to my party tonight," she said.

"Why?" one of them (Marissa? Laura? Who cared.) replied. "Betty Cooper is-"

"I know." Cheryl cut her off. "But I'm in the mood for a little chaos."

 


	6. Chapter 6

Betty had hoped that this would be some terrific turning point for Archie and her, that he would see her under the twinkling lights of the school disco ball and realize that he had found what he was looking for. Veronica would look delighted, and the entire school would rest easy in the knowledge that the inevitable had finally happened. However, after she entered the dance with Archie and Veronica, it seemed as though Archie had spotted someone in the crowd and almost immediately disappeared. 

"Wow," Veronica said.

"He usually sticks around longer," Betty explained in an attempt to make Veronica (and herself) feel better. "I don't know what's gotten into him."

"Who cares?" Veronica replied with a smile. "Let's dance!"

Veronica led her new best friend out onto the dance floor, and soon Betty nearly forgot the reason she had come in the first place, lost in the music and the charms of her new friend.

"Where's your other friend? Oh God...what's his name...the weird one..."

"God, I hope you aren't talking about me," Kevin Keller said, almost miraculously appearing in a beautifully brocaded jacket. 

"Of course not, Kevin!" Veronica cried. "I would never! I meant...Jug...something."

"Jughead," Betty finished for her. "He won't come to things like this." 

"What kind of a name is Jughead anyway?" Veronica asked. 

"Not his real one," Kevin answered helpfully. "It's Forsythe Pendleton Jones. The third."

Veronica raised her eyebrows. "Wow."

"Yeah."

Betty listened to the two of them banter, but suddenly found herself missing Jughead terribly. For years they had been friends, of course, but she had been so wrapped up in the idea of a romance with Archie that she didn't spend much time thinking about only him. With the moment spared, she wondered how Jughead was spending his night. Whether he was lonely. She thought about his tired face, the darkness of his hair. 

It's not the worst thought. 

#

 Almost all of the stones in the graveyard were chipped and broken, Jughead noticed. Maybe gravediggers weren't too interested in their jobs anymore, given the danger of such open spaces. The Twilight Drive-In had gotten a similar hit back when the beasts were new and the fences weren't properly fortified. However, during the Hunt, Jughead liked to lurk in this space, watching the darkness. 

He was the gatekeeper. 

Fires burned  in the distance as creatures squirmed and squealed. Jughead watched them. He hated them, but he still had his mind, luckily. So many people who spent time outdoors during the Hunt didn't have much of a mind left. It was Jughead's job to protect them.

His thoughts were interrupted by a burst of laughter as someone walked through the gates of the cemetery and spotted Jughead in the tree. At first glance the person didn't sound like a hunter, and as he peered down, he saw someone not too far from his age and with dark hair, staring up at him with the steely determination of a person who was convinced that they had no fear. 

 "What the hell are you doing up there?" The voice was pushy, full of bravado, but Jughead didn't care. 

"I'm here to warn people to turn around." 

"Are you, turn around from the cemetery? That's nuts, I hear that this is where all of the beasts like to hide during the hunt."

"It's not."

"What makes you say that?"

"Because they probably wouldn't be that cliche," Jughead quipped. "Just go, OK? I'd rather not listen to someone get ripped apart today."

The person below furrowed his brow, annoyance growing with every word Jughead said. 

"Oh, sure, I'll just listen to you."

He took a step forward, paused as though he were expecting Jughead to do something, but Jughead didn't move a muscle. It wasn't his problem once the warning was ignored. He leaned his head against the bark of the tree and did not draw either his gun or cleaver. Sometimes it's just not worth it. 

Laughing, the intrepid adventurer continued onward, and already Jughead could hear rustling through the trees, and as he turned to look, he caught a glimpse of a white mask.

Stomach turning, Jughead closed his eyes. Hopefully....god, hopefully, this one will be quick.

#

Ms. Grundy insisted on ignoring him for the entire dance, and that probably was for the best, even if Archie hated it. Why should it bother him anyway? He had the new hottest girl in school on his arm, and Betty, who was beautiful in her way, on another. Veronica flitted by them with a wicked smile, her eyes already caught on Reggie Mantle as a slow song began to play. 

"I see my next target, you two should dance!"

With that, Veronica left Archie in front of Betty. 

Alone....at last?

Something felt weird as Betty put her arms around his shoulders, looking down with a blush as the music filled the air. 

"I feel like we haven't had much alone time since you got back," Archie said, breaking the awkward silence that seemed to be growing between them. Betty laughed and wiggled her way closer.

"It's true, and I've been meaning to talk to you about something."

The lights played in Betty's hair as they danced, and her face looked so hopeful. Suddenly, terrible, Archie desperately did not want her to start talking. 

But talk she did.

"Remember when we were little kids, and you might have been moved to a different reading group from me?"

Archie laughed. "Yeah, that wasn't my best academic moment. But you were too stubborn, you helped me."

"I did...and when you passed and got to stay, you grabbed my hand and asked me to marry you right then and there."

Suddenly Archie became the one who was blushing, taken off-guard by that particular memory. "Yeah..."

"Well, I don't think I'm ready to get married yet, but I think I'm ready for..." she cuts herself off with a laugh. "I just...have this vision of us, finally as a couple."

She said it. She had actually said it. The weight of that rested on Archie's shoulders, the expectation of it all. Betty's blue eyes sparkled as she thought that all of pieces were finally falling into place. Archie didn't know what to say. He could see Ms. Grundy sitting not too far off, pretending not to watch him just as much as he was pretending not to watch her. He could see Veronica sneaking glances at the two of them dancing. Had she known? 

"Betty."

Her face fell at the tone of his voice. The sad. The wistful. It made him feel bad to be that transparent, but maybe not having to say it would be for the best. Her muscles tensed and she was about to pull away, and for a moment Archie saw everything slip away from him; her friendship, the quiet comfort she offered him, and he gripped her wrists. 

"Wait," he said. "Don't stop dancing with me yet. Let's just stay like this for a moment, okay?"

Her eyes shown with what Archie hoped were not tears, and in that very moment, Cheryl Blossom decided to make an appearance. 

"Party. Tonight. My place. You're going."

The two were too confused to properly answer, and Cheryl accepted their silence as the proper RSVP and flitted away. 

"Oh great," Betty mumbled under her breath. 

"Maybe it will be fun?" Archie tried to sound hopeful.

"When has Cheryl ever thrown an objectively fun party free of social sabotage?"

Archie watched as Cheryl continued her invites. 

"There's a first time for everything," he said. 

Across the room, Veronica shrugged Reggie off and went to the punch bowl. It was spiked just enough for her to enjoy it (even if she could taste the cheapness of the vodka through the juice and sherbet). She tried not to watch Betty and Archie, but she couldn't help it, and she watched as their body language grew more and more uncomfortable. 

 _Poor Betty,_ she thought, genuinely feeling terrible. 

And yet there was something more. 

Was it  _relief?_

Veronica didn't know and didn't care, but she smiled extra wide as Reggie returned for another dance, and she allowed him to lead her out onto the dance floor on feet as light as air. 

 _I can fix things at the party_ , she swore to herself.  _I definitely can._


	7. Chapter 7

_The mystery of the plague and beasts swept over Riverdale, replacing everything that might have been with what now was. It touched every piece of the town except for one place._

_Thorn Hill._

_Home of the Blossom family, hidden behind gates, protecting the precious blood that so very much cures and invigorates. Home of Lady Cheryl Blossom, the last heir to a fortune of blood, seated on a throne of red. However, what Cheryl really rules over is chaos..._

The party at Cheryl's had not lasted for more than 15 minutes before it devolved into a most spectacular bacchanal. People Archie had passed casually in the hallway were now lounging on pillows, toasting each other with blood infused wine. Was it Cheryl's own blood? Did it matter? The glow in their cheeks told him enough. 

Archie had never meant to receive the blood ministration, not really, but when he was younger he had caught the plague like so many others had. He could still remember the strange tremors through his body, the rage that had been building up in his 10-year-old body during that time. He could have been one of the terrible creatures that stalked the night, being hunted even now. Granted, it made him so much stronger, helped him bulk up so much quicker, but still, sometimes he wondered what it was like to feel  _real_ , like Jughead felt every day, probably. Jughead wasn't the only person in Riverdale to refuse the ministrations, but he was definitely one of the few teenagers to do so. 

He was thinking about stupid things at the moment, he knew that, but it was better than looking at Betty, who was sitting next to Veronica on a couch, looking stricken, horrified. He wanted to reach out to her, take her in his arms and tell her to forget everything, but it looked as though he wouldn't get that chance, not at this party. 

For some reason, Cheryl had changed into a tight red dress, hugging her body in a way that clearly showed off her body. It was strange that she dressed like this, given the pain she still clearly felt over Jason, but her dark eyes looked down at the circle of teenagers seated around her, and she smiled. 

"I know a perfect game to play," she said, plucking a bottle of wine out of the hands of a passerby.

"Hey!"

"Shut up, toad," Cheryl snapped back. "This is all mine anyway."

There was still wine in the bottle, but Cheryl snapped her head back and drank it down, red flushing to her cheeks due to the mixture of blood and alcohol. Was she truly drinking her own blood? Did that even do anything? Archie was about to ask until Cheryl leaned forward and placed the now empty bottle of wine on the table. 

"Spin the bottle," she said by way of explanation. "How fun is that? Archie. Go first."

Everyone's eyes turn to him, and Archie's stomach turns. Veronica sits across from him, her cupid's bow of a mouth twisted into a strange frown. He still remembers the way she looked, standing over that beast, long, thin knife in hand. 

Betty desperately tries not to make eye contact. God. Wouldn't that make things worse. Under Cheryl's charged gaze, Archie leaned over to spin the bottle. 

It seemed to spin forever, and there was no comfortable place where it could land. Tortuously, it landed right between Betty and Veronica. The two girls looked down at the bottle as though it were a live grenade. 

"Host's choice then, I'll say....the new girl."

Veronica immediately balked. "Absolutely not, I'm not playing this."

The look of relief on Betty's face was palpable. 

"Well, if you don't go, I guess I always could." There was a predatory edge to her voice, and her gaze on Archie's new muscles implied that she would take a lot more joy out of the the game than simply terrorizing people.  Betty opened her mouth to say something, something barbed and angry, until Veronica jumped to her feet.

"Fine. Archie?"

Her voice was businesslike, and Archie's heart jumped. He looked at Betty (he shouldn't have looked at Betty) before looking up at Veronica. Her eyes pleaded for him to just play along. So he did.

"Alright."

Betty kept her face carefully trained on the pattern of the rug in front of her so she didn't see the two of them disappear. Her phone buzzed. 

**Jughead: How's being a normal teen?**

**Betty: This party is anything but normal.**

**Jughead: Sorry to be missing it then.**

Betty suppressed a smile, knowing that it would only feed the fuel to Cheryl's fire, but was nice to know that Jughead was thinking about her. Still her friend. 

Still normal. 

In a graveyard tree on the other side of town, Jughead stuck his phone back in his coat pocket and leaned his head against the trunk of the tree, hearing something howl in the distance. 

#

"What is your problem!?" Veronica hissed, her voice morphing into a viscous whisper as soon as the door closed behind them. In the closet it seemed as though there was no space for the two of them without them having to mesh together. Archie filled the space with his heat and beautiful boy-next-door good looks.  

"What are you talking about?"

"I know about Betty."

Betty. Betty. The closet filled itself with Betty, and Archie's heart thumped against his chest as he thought about her sitting by herself in the middle of that party. 

"There's...nothing about Betty."

Veronica gave a light punch to his shoulder, he couldn't really feel it, but he could feel that she was holding back, trying not to actually hurt him. That impressed him somehow. The beauty of her face was only enhanced by the dim light of the closet, casting her face in mystery. 

"I know how she feels about you," Veronica said quietly. "I know that she loves you..."

Archie sighed. "I wish I felt the same way about Betty, but that...I don't, I mean I care about her, she's everything to me, but I don't feel that..."

The closet was so warm, and it seemed as though they were drifting closer together. 

Veronica's eyes flicked down to his lips and then back up to his eyes. 

"I know what you mean, you need that spark."

Maybe it was the wine they both had, Archie wasn't sure, but before he knew it, his lips were on hers...and at that very moment the closet door opened. 

"Oh look!" Cheryl said happily. "I told you nothing would happen!"

Archie didn't even have time to say Betty's name before she was gone. The front door slammed. 

"Be careful!" Cheryl called cheerfully. "Who knows what kind of monsters are out there?"

"Better than the monster in here," Veronica growled.

 

#

If Kevin went back in time to his fourteen year old self and told him(self) that he was going to be sneaking around in the woods with Moose Mason, his fourteen year old self would probably laugh, and then say something catty about the shoes he decided to wear. Luckily, Kevin didn't possess a time machine, instead he had Moose's hand firmly in his, they were going through the woods, seeking the banks of the Sweetwater River. 

He knew that he should be scared, going out this far into the woods at night, especially during the Hunt, but Moose was so strong that Kevin barely felt worried. There was a reason that Moose's girlfriend, Midge, barely knew how to swing an ax. 

Maybe now wasn't a good time to be thinking about Midge. 

They were barely by the banks when Moose pulled him in for a kiss.

"I feel like this should be some lesson," Kevin said as he kissed back. "Like a how-to guide for guy on guy hook-ups."

"I think I can figure it out," Moose nearly growled. Kevin gave what could only be described as an excited cry before he gave himself into it, forgetting that it was wrong to steal a guy from his girlfriend, forgetting to wonder about the implications of Moose's sexuality. He just kissed him, and it was great. 

Until his foot hit something. 

"Holy fuck it's a beast!" Kevin cried, reaching for the mace that he kept slung behind his back just in case. He had never gotten one with it, but he was also once a Boy Scout, so he knew the benefits of being prepared. 

Moose looked around, senses heightened. "Where?"

Where indeed? Kevin gripped the mace tightly as he scanned the tree line, he could have sworn...

_There!_

Something roared out of the river, a pale creature with blank eyes and signature red hair. Its legs were already fusing together like all the others, and it reached out with long arms to the two boys.

"Jason Blossom!?"

The transformation into beast wasn't particularly surprising, it happened a lot to drowned victims (and frankly, a lot of people were waiting for him to show up), but what was surprising wasn't that Jason's dead face roared at them, attempting to drag itself onto the riverbank so that it could attack them.

It was the gunshot wound in the middle of the creature's head. 

Jason hadn't died by drowning. 

"I gotta call my dad," Kevin said. "I think we need to report a murder?"

 


	8. Chapter 8

The night wind rustled through Josie's hair as her eyes watched the streets below. Crouched on top of Pop's Chock'lit Shop, she could see a decent way into Riverdale, watched the fires burn under orange street lamps. Each beast crucified. No longer able to destroy lives. 

 _Good_ , Josie thought. 

There was a dance that night, a party too, and as much as she loved Cheryl, she loved the Hunt more. Her and her Cats. Most of the teenagers in town knew how to defend themselves, it was basically half the point of gym class these days, but they were also still attempting to be teenagers. Josie knew differently. 

Life can't be normal if there are these creatures running around, right?

A whistle sang through the air, coming from the trees to the east. Melody. She must have seen something. Josie's heart began to race with excitement. With a great leap, she jumped off of the roof and landed in a crouching position in the parking lot below. No one was at Pop's tonight, Cheryl's party must be getting pretty good. 

"Good evening, Miss McCoy," a friendly voice said behind her. Josie turned to smile at Pop Tate. 

"Good evening, Pop Tate," she replied. 

"You better not be damaging my roof up there," he said with humor. 

Another whistle sounded through the trees. Valerie this time. Josie bobbed her head absentmindedly to the tune.  _Sugar. Ahh honey honey._ It was time to move. 

As though anticipating her movement, Pop Tate gave a sigh and smiled. 

"You be careful, okay?" 

Josie touched the revolver at her hip and felt the reassuring weight of the cleaver slung over her back. Her blood sang in her veins, sang to the vials of healing blood she kept in her pouch.

It was largely considered to be bad luck, when the blood started to sing, but it didn't worry Josie. Not yet. She was strong. 

"I'm always careful," she told Pop Tate. "I'd like an order of cheese fries when I get back."

He smiled. "Of course." 

She was gone before he could say anything else. 

#

This one was a little different. That was for sure. Melody had watched the creature back when it still looked like a man, stumbling through the forest in confusion. The pulsing in the head had gotten so intense that Melody herself could see it, it was a wonder that the man was still walking. 

It looked almost like worms under the skin, pressing against his cheeks and distorting his eye sockets. She had whistled the moment she had seen him, but kept her distance now, waiting for Valerie and Josie to arrive. 

Unfortunately, the creature wouldn't wait...the man's head had decided to explode a little early for Melody's liking. Bits of bone, blood, and hair went flying as tentacles burst forth, splattering dark liquid on the leaves around it. Melody only had a two-handed spear. It was a good weapon for reach, but would be a disaster if she missed the first time. 

After the explosion, it stood there, writhing. Melody choked back bile raising in the back of her throat. Could it smell her? Her heart began to pound in her chest, behind her eyes. 

Then, luckily, the creature was hit with a crossbow bolt. 

"This is why I think you should carry a gun," Valerie called to Melody from the ground. "Gives you room for error."

"Then why don't you have one?" 

The creature screamed in pain around the arrow that was stuck somewhere in that mass of tentacles. 

"Because I can get that back, of course."

Using its own staggering momentum, the creature lurched forward and lashed out towards Valerie, who jumped back with grace. Unfortunately a tentacle lashed out, wrapping around her ankle, and for a moment she slipped. Hitting the ground, she took the change in position as an advantage and slipped from the creature's grip, rolling to the side. She reached for her ax. 

"Shit," Valerie mumbled as she finished her roll and pressed her back to the base of the tree. The ax lay on the other side of the creature. 

The tentacles thrashed, twitching as though scenting her, and Valerie held her crossbow at the ready...until Melody jumped, screaming from her spot in the tree. The spear in her hands glanced off of the creature's shoulder, sending out an arc of glittering black blood that nearly sparkled in the moonlight. 

Melody landed firmly on her feet, giving Valerie time to stand. 

"You're welcome," she said. 

"I didn't thank you yet," Valerie replied smoothly. The creature lashed out, one spiked tentacle aiming for Valerie's head. Without a second though, Melody parried it with her spear, catching the spike in the teeth of the sawed end of the spear. Valerie backed up.

"Thank you," Valerie said. Melody shrugged happily, the "you're welcome" implied. 

"Stop bantering!" Josie yelled as she ran through the trees. "It's not dead yet."

Josie's cleaver had been extended, and she gripped it tightly in her hand as she brought it down on the creature over and over. Blood splattered on the leather jacket that Josie wore, painted her cheeks and her curly hair. It wasn't long before the creature lay in pieces on the ground. 

"Should we keep heading that way? The cemetery isn't too far," Melody suggested as she wiped down her weapon. Josie shook her head. 

"No, that's Serpent territory, remember?"

Melody frowned. The lines were redrawn so many times. 

"Right," she replied as though she had already known. Josie wiped some glittering black blood from off of her cheek. 

"I'm hungry," she said. "Let's go get some cheese fries instead." 

Eating was a very important part of hunting, in any case. 

#

It wasn't exactly as though Betty was disappointed, although on some level she definitely was. More than anything she had felt completely stupid. How had she been so completely wrong about Archie? How had Veronica turned out to be totally not the person she thought she was, but then again, knowing someone for a day doesn't give much information.

They had looked so perfect kissing in that closet. Betty had thought it was another weird joke when Cheryl threatened to push her in, Betty had been expecting to be shut up in the closet with them, laughing at Cheryl's petty attempt at drama...but it had actually worked. Cheryl had won. 

Betty had been kissed before, there had been a boy in LA that she had practiced with, but everything up until this point had been with the expectation that Archie would be hers someday. 

He didn't feel the same way. 

Dressed comfortably in her pajamas, she tried not to think about the beautiful Veronica in Archie's arms. 

However, her reverie was interrupted by a commotion downstairs. 

"She doesn't want to see you!" Betty heard her mother snap at the front door. 

"Please Mrs. Cooper, it's important!" Archie's voice sounded so desperate. He wanted to see her. Had she been wrong? Maybe he did feel for her. 

Betty's heart pounded as she stood and walked into the hall. 

"I think you've done enough already, young man," Alice said. "Now please go home before I..."

"Mom, it's okay," Betty said quietly from the top of the stairs. Archie was still in his suit from the dance, maybe he had just left the party. Maybe he had meant to leave the party with Veronica but...

"Betty," Archie said, his eyes widening as he saw her step out into the light. 

"Archie," she replied. Her voice didn't break, that was comforting. 

Alice knew she wasn't wanted, so she retracted into the living room, where she could still see her youngest daughter. 

"What are you doing here?" Betty continued. She wasn't going to cry. She just wasn't. She crossed her arms over her chest as though wanting to cover up the fact that she was in pajamas. As though they hadn't had slumber parties back when they were 6, back before everything got ruined because they grew up. 

"I needed to tell you something," he replied. 

 _I love you_ , Betty hoped to hear.  _I need you_.

"It's Jason," Archie said instead. Betty's blood ran cold. "They found his body at Sweetwater River...and it doesn't look like he drowned. And it wasn't a beast either."

Murder? In Riverdale? It seemed strange. Unnatural even. As a Blossom, Jason was immune to the plague, it was the entire reason the Blossom family of Blood practically ran this town, so it wasn't likely he succumbed to the illness. 

"Wow," was all she could really say. 

"I know, Jughead just texted me, he's down there right now, we should go...pay respects."

"What was Jughead doing down there?"

Archie had no answer. Betty looked back into the house, met the eyes of a disapproving mother, before turning back to Archie. She shoved all of her confused feelings down deep into the pit of her stomach. It wasn't the time for that right now. 

Not with Jason Blossom murdered. 

"I'll get my coat and weapons," she said. "Stay right there."

"I'm not going anywhere," he replied. The sincerity in his eyes was so painful that she couldn't meet them. She left him standing at the front door as she went to suit up. 

Time to go look at a murder. 


	9. Chapter 9

_Jason Blossom. The heir to the Blossom Family of Blood fortune. Technically they were Riverdale nobility, part of the reverence that came with having life saving blood. The Blossoms, headed by Lord Clifford and Lady Penelope, stood on the banks of the Sweetwater River, watching as the people of the town witnessed their greatest tragedy...and their deepest shame._

Cheryl was trying to run, but no one would let her. She cried and struggled as her mother stood with hands firmly on the girl's shoulders, stiff as iron, her face unreadable. Beauty still lived in Penelope Blossom's face, enhanced by the rather outdated but still beautiful clothing she wore even this early in the morning. Cheryl's cherry red hair fell over her shoulders, she was still wearing her red dress from the night before, and she struggled, vainly, to reach her twin brother's side. 

Archie and Betty stood awkwardly side by side, watching the wall of police officers as they hid Jason's body from view. Betty wanted to see it, she didn't know why, but she wanted to see the dead and drowned face of the boy who had broken her sister so completely that she had been sent somewhere terrifying. Archie stood stiffly by her side, wanting to touch her, but not wanting to upset her. They had made their way to the river in silence, but Archie didn't regret being the one to tell her. He knew that she deserved to know what happened. 

Veronica and her mother, Hermione, stood a little ways away from the two of them. Veronica was desperately attempting not to look at either Archie or Betty, but her desperate eyes flicked over there more than once. It had not even been a few days in Riverdale, and already she had made a complete mess of things. 

Kevin and Moose stood close together, but did not huddle with so many people around. They had made the quickest attempt at an excuse for why they had been at Sweetwater River that night, and the paint was still drying on that concept as Midge Klump, Moose's long term girlfriend, pushed her way through the crowd. 

"Moose!" She jumped into his arms, her small body looking fragile in Moose's big arms. Kevin looked away. 

Jughead saw it all. 

Betty glanced over to see her friend standing not too far away from the river's edge, the dark circles under his eyes already visible. It must have been quite the night. Betty didn't know what Jughead spent his nights doing, but whatever it was might be dangerous for him. 

"There's Jug," she told Archie. "Isn't it too dangerous for him to be this close to those things?"

As if on cue, the snapping of jaws could be heard as the creatures that inhabited the water twisted and turned and moaned, dragging their useless legs through the water. 

Archie glanced over at Jughead, who glanced darkly back at him. 

"I don't know, he'd know better than us, right?"  Archie missed Jughead, but the ball was in Jug's court...right? 

"I'm going to talk to him."

Archie reached out his hand to grab her arm, not wanting to her leave. It was a normal gesture, one they had done a thousand times before, but this time Betty froze at his touch, moving quickly away so that he wouldn't properly touch her. Her blue eyes burned with something that he couldn't recognize, and he realized that it was because throughout their entire lives, Archie had never done anything to hurt Betty.

But all that had changed. 

In a show of almost mock respect, Jughead had removed his crown shaped beanie as he watched the tragedy unfold. Cautiously approaching, Betty heard him begin speaking even before she thought he could sense her. 

"You know, we haven't changed much since the olden days," Jughead observed. "Back in the 19th century people used to gather and watch house fires together. And don't get me started on public executions..."

Betty wrapped her arms around herself as though she was cold. Summer was still clinging to Riverdale, but being close to the water and...the death, it chilled her. 

"No, Mummy, I need to see him! Why won't they let me see him?" Cheryl cried. Her mother pulled the poor girl in close, whispering something vicious into her ear. Slowly, Cheryl began to calm down. 

"I feel sorry for her," Betty said. "I feel sorry for her whole family, don't you?" 

Jughead rubbed the back of his head to hide an involuntary neck shake. "No. Not really. People die these days. I am interested though..."

He took a step forward as though that could get him around the wall of police officers. 

"I didn't know you were the type to watch the public execution," Betty cracked. 

"I'm not. I'm the type who's trying to figure out what's really going on. Writing about it, remember?" He raised an eyebrow at her. She smiled back at him. This was what she needed, just a normal conversation with Jughead so she didn't have to think about Archie. Or Veronica. 

"Maybe if you find anything, we could publish it in the  _Blue and Gold_ ," Betty joked.

"I think I might be a little too edgy for the school paper."

"Well, think about it..."

"Elizabeth!?" Alice's voice called from the crowd. Betty glanced over to see her mother jumping to see over the line of people in front of her, her eyes searching for her daughter. 

"I better go," Betty said. 

"Moms, right?" Jughead quipped. Betty grimaced at the slight bitter edge that crept into his voice. 

"See you later, Jug," was all Betty could say. 

Something shifted in the air as she began her walk to her mother. It was electric, causing the hair on the back of her neck to stand on end. Murmurs started through the crowd, and as Betty looked back at Jughead, she saw he was unmoved. Couldn't he feel it? The horror of what might be coming?

A scream sounded out throughout the crowd, and for a moment chaos broke out. People bumped by Betty as they ran, desperate in their own confusion. Betty felt the confusion and horror too, more than the normal confusion she would feel at the moment. It felt amplified. It felt like loss. Someone grabbed her arm, and for a moment she thought it might be Jughead again, but turning around she saw that he was gone. Instead it was her mother, her eyes wide and scared. The scream continued. 

"It's Penelope," Alice whispered in fear. "It's why we can all feel it."

Yes, the Blossom family of Blood had a finger in the pie of almost every family in Riverdale once it was discovered that their blood could prevent the plague and rewire the body to heal in a different way. It occasionally left an echo of feeling, but only in extreme cases. This seemed to be like one of those times. Penelope Blossom fell to her knees, her arms still around her daughter, as she finally got to look at the dead face of her only son. The moans of the creatures in the water grew louder as though confused about what seemed to be happening. Alice, in a rare show of motherly affection, pulled her daughter close as though trying to shield her from the feelings that did not belong to her. The loss was so deep, Betty blinked away tears as she felt it. 

People began to calm down once they realized what it was, and Betty peeked out over her mother's shoulder to see her friends. Midge was crying into Moose's chest. Kevin's father was gripping Kevin's shoulder in a manly show of affection, while Fred Andrews began to lead Archie away just in case the body came into full view. Everyone looked bereft, but as Betty scanned the crowd, her eyes snagged on two people who stood and watched the chaos with passive faces. 

Veronica and Hermione Lodge. 

Hermione placed a hand on Veronica's shoulder and whispered something into her ear. They turned and began to leave just as Penelope's wail hit a terrible crescendo. 

" _Murder!!"_ Penelope cried. " _MURDER!"_

"What?" Betty's mother's arms tightened around her daughter for a moment before she pushed away. 

"Did she just say murder?" Alice asked. Betty shrugged. 

"I'm not sure..."

"We have to get home. I have to get your father and head to the office. Are you going to be okay for dinner tonight by yourself?"

The sudden change in her mother's attitude wasn't something new, but in the context it felt jarring. Numbly, Betty nodded. 

"Mom, if Jason was murdered...shouldn't we tell Polly?"

Something passed across Alice's face. "I think that we need more facts first...and your sister doesn't need to upset herself with such unsavory things."

Betty thought of her sister, locked away somewhere, and felt something flip in her stomach. She had to find Polly. Polly deserved to know. 

_And so it began, when a small town with a huge problem went from sort of bad to definitely worse. Betty Cooper, the girl next door, stands on the precipice of a huge decision...go into the dangerous night to find her sister, or go back home where it's safe? Should she forgive Archie for having the audacity to break her heart, or should she forget him? What about Veronica?_

_Yes. What about Veronica indeed._


	10. Chapter 10

 

Betty had been expecting Jughead to be waiting for her in the office of the Blue and Gold the next morning when the school bell range. She loved this office. It made her feel as though she was actually working for a newspaper in reality. Hell, one day she might be. Weak sunlight lit the dust that floated in the air, although it was mostly streetlight. At nine of the morning, it still seemed like strange twilight. Hazy smoke had drifted down residential streets that morning as she walked to school, stinging Betty's eyes and burning her nose as she walked, but it had been a blessedly Beast-free walk.

Usually Archie walked with her, given how close they lived together. They still sort of did, walking on opposite ends of the street, Betty trying desperately not to speak to him. It had worked, he had enough respect for her to at least not try to talk to her, but her heart ached nonetheless. 

The office of the Blue and Gold was a haven before class began, and she stared at the layout of the coming newspaper, wondering whether or not the paper needed something new, something different. 

Of course the answer was yes.  

When the door to the newsroom opened, Betty's heart gave a funny little leap knowing that Jughead was finally in. Having someone completely unattached to the whole Archie/Veronica drama would be a welcome distraction. 

"Oh thank God, I have a-" Turning around, Betty choked on her own words as Veronica Lodge, beautiful as always stood in the doorway of the Blue and Gold. She held a petal pink box in her hands. 

 "Cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery," Veronica explained. "I had them flown in overnight."

Betty's face was unreadable. The raven-haired girl's face flushed as she placed the cupcakes on the nearest flat surface. 

"Betty...I..."

Betty turned towards the window, watching the dim light of that pointless sunlight, the hazy smoke of the fires that still burned. 

"Veronica, do you believe in heaven?"

"What?" 

 She looked back at Veronica's face, her eyes clear and bright. Veronica looked as though she wanted to run.

"I said, do you believe in heaven?'

To Veronica's credit, she recovered with grace, sauntering into the room and looking around. "Well, the Lodge family are officially staunch Catholics so..."

"I didn't ask about your family, V, I asked about you."

That much was owed, in a way, and Veronica's lower lip quivered as she thought about it, but the nickname that tumbled from Betty's lips was so weirdly comforting that she felt like she truly had to respond. And she had to respond seriously. 

"No."

Veronica almost didn't expect that sort of thing to actually be true, but as she said it and realized that it was, tears wanted to flood to her eyes, but she refused them access, and fixed Betty with a glassy stare. 

"Why not?"

The answer came tumbling out automatically. 

"Because if there were an afterlife, a good afterlife, wouldn't we have all jumped to go there already? Why else would we fight so hard to live in a place like this?" Anyone else would have thought that she was referring to Riverdale, but Betty knew better. 

She walked over to the box and opened it, Veronica looked sick. Betty took out a giant chocolate cupcake: her total favorite. Her eyes never left Veronica's as she bit deeply into the cake, enjoying the richness of the flavor. Once swallowed, she spoke again.

"Then why waste time arguing over a boy?" Betty asked, her mouth bathed in sweetness. 

Uneasy relief hit Veronica.

"You're right," she replied. "You're so right."

Something pinged on her computer, an email, and Betty stooped to the computer to open it. It was from Jughead, the first installment of his coverage of Jason's death. Her heart thudded loudly in her chest at the memory of Jason's horrible body. She couldn't post this until he was buried the next morning. It wouldn't be right otherwise. 

She did read it though. It was amazing.

When she finally surfaced from Jughead's article, Kevin had appeared and gotten into the cupcakes.

Veronica was gone. 

"I can't believe you forgave her already," he said.

Betty shrugged. "Does it matter? Next week she'll be on to the next person, the next project. Maybe she'll even become besties with Cheryl." 

Kevin shook his head. "No. While Cheryl is a total icon, Veronica seems strangely immune to her charm." He thoughtfully paused. "Kind of like Jughead. Or you." 

#

Geraldine Grundy had a lot on her mind. First, she thought that living in Riverdale would be easy. It's why she picked it. Of course there were the monsters, but the Hunt usually cleared that up pretty quickly, and it was better than wandering the wastes between cities and towns. With nimble fingers, she picked out a fast and frenzied tune on her cello. That usually cleared her mind. With the death of her student, Jason, and the extremely unfortunate the situation involving Archie Andrews, Geraldine needed to figure out some way to handle things fast. 

Luckily, half of the solution presented itself in the doorway of the music room. 

"Ms. Grundy?" Archie's muscles strained against his t-shirt, it was still arm enough to wear them. He must be leaving school; his sword was slung casually across his back. 

She cleared her throat. "Yes, um, Mr. Andrews? Come on."

It was blurted too quickly and she knew she sounded scared. Alarmed, Archie jumped in and practically slammed the door behind him. She pushed her glasses up over her nose and stood. 

"You can't just come barging in here."

"Listen I need to tell you something," Archie's words ran into hers, and it all sounded like some jumbled mess, but Geraldine had heard the relevant words. 

"What?"

"I wanted to tell you," he told her grimly. "I'm going to tell the cops about the 4th of July."

 _Fuck,_ Geraldine thought.  _I'm going to have to kill this kid._

 


	11. Chapter 11

_If there is one place that a kid can still feel like a kid, it's Pop's Chock'Lit Shoppe. For decades Pop Tate has been serving up the finest diner fair this side of Sweetwater River, and it's become a beloved hotspot for the teens of Riverdale. It's one of the last safe places around...especially because..._

 

"Oh my God, Jug, they're closing the drive-in?" Archies' eyes went wide. The dark-haired Veronica, seated beside him, looking confused. 

"You guys have a drive-in? That's so small town."

"Had," Jughead replied, perhaps a little too harshly. "We had a drive-in, but now it's closing down."

"Jughead works there," Archie explained to Veronica as she picked at cheese fries. Jughead clenched his jaw, had she ever had to work a day in her life? Had she even had to fight a Beast before? Betty had told him something about her throwing knives, but it just seemed like nothing to him in light of everything. 

"Sorry," Veronica said quietly. 

"I'm doing a final night, and I'm trying to think of good movie to show," he replied. Why didn't he bring his laptop? Veronica was nothing to him, just some person who had decided to show up, break Betty's heart, and looking pretty while sitting next to Archie. What was she? Why was she? All Jughead knew was that she was the kind of person he could not fathom. 

"Hey everyone!" Betty chirped as she slid into the booth next to Jughead. He could catch a tendril of her perfume: wildflowers, blood, and motor oil. She must have been out hunting, or working on cars with her dad. Both were equally likely. Veronica perked up at Betty's relaxed entrance.

"Hey B, we're just trying to figure out what to play one last night at the drive in," Veronica said, sitting her chin on her hands. 

"How about  _Rebel Without a Cause_?" Betty joked, looking at Jughead. She giggled at it, but Jughead said nothing. There was something in Betty's voice that made him feel comfortable inside, which was a weird thing because he had never felt comfortable with anyone really, except for maybe Archie, and even this was different. 

As he entered Pop's, there was only one thing on Reggie Mantle's mind: Midge Klump. He liked to imagine that she smelled like sea flowers. Maybe her lips were very soft. He liked the way she laughed. He liked the way that she would lower her eyes at the ground, only to slowly raise them to look him in the eye. It broke his heart a little whenever she did that, even if she was doing it to get a discount on the ether he was selling her. Midge was a big fan of the gas that people often used to calm their nerves while hiding during the Hunt. He didn't blame her. 

His mind was filled with Midge Klump as he walked next to Archie's table, and one sentence caught his attention.

"Yeah, Kevin and Moose found him, isn't that crazy? I hope Kevin's okay." Betty Cooper bit her lip nervously as she said it. Moose? Midge's boyfriend? What was he doing with Kevin?

"Well, at least we know they didn't do it," Reggie heard himself speaking before he even realized he was. "I mean, I doubt either have it in them."

"Was that a theory?" the new girl, Veronica Lodge, asked. Shit, she was hot. 

"I think we all have our own theories," he said. "Like why would anyone kill someone with the Blood in them? Only a total psycho would, like someone who refused the ministrations in the first place." 

Jughead tensed in his seat, and Reggie took a perverse pleasure in that. Midge Klump was not his. People were dying. Everything was scary. And there was Jughead Jones, school fucking weirdo, walking around without any blood ministration of any kind like he was better than every

"Being a peaceful objector doesn't make me a serial killer, Reggie," Jughead said evenly. His lack of response only stoked his anger even more. Jughead Jones wasn't allowed to ignore him. He wasn't allowed to push him aside like he was nothing. Reggie was _on the football team_. 

"Maybe not, but aren't you like, really into serial killers?"

"They're rare now since the Plague."

"Just keep moving, Reggie," Archie mumbled. 

"Trying for a revival, Jones? Or maybe you just want to know what it's like to kill someone, since you can't."

Jughead looked up at Reggie, grey eyes flashing. "How would you know? Everyone knows your dad doesn't let you out during the hunt. Could you just leave it alone, Reggie?"

He was losing his power. Reggie didn't like it. "Oh, so you're not going around, doing weird things to bodies?"

Something weird passed over Jughead's expression before it went completely blank once more. "I think you're referring to necrophilia...can you spell it?"

That was enough, soon Jughead was being pulled out of the booth by an angry Reggie. Veronica cried out in alarm and Betty began to reach for something in her backpack, a throwing knife, maybe? Either way, Archie stopped her by jumping to his feet and wrenching his way between them.

"Stop it, Reggie!" Archie pushed him backwards, almost into the booth across the way, where Josie and her Cats were planning their next Hunt. Reggie stopped himself before he landed into a world of pain, and scowled, brushing his hands on his pants as though touching Jughead made him feel dirty. 

"Whatever," he said, knowing full well that he sounded like the villain in a 90's teen movie. Angry, he skulked off, ignoring the glares from the Cats as he passded them. 

Jughead sat back down. 

"Jocks," he mumbled. 

"Hey," Archie chided. Jughead didn't respond, only slumped down into his chair even more. 

"Are you okay, Jug?" Betty's wide blue eyes looked so sincere, he almost wanted to blush. Why was Betty Cooper so interested in his feelings all of a sudden? Wasn't she Archie's girl somehow? 

"Oh good, you're all here," another voice interrupted the four's lunch. Cheryl Blossom stood there, one hand on her hip, her other hand holding a small stack of invitations. 

"God, not another party," Betty moaned. Cheryl smiled like a shark. 

"No, this isn't a party, so you won't have to worry about Archie and Veronica slipping into any more closets."

With the exception of Jughead, everyone at the table blushed. Betty in particular looked mortified. Jughead put it together. Oh. 

_Oh._

"No, I'm here to cordially invite you to the funeral of my beloved twin, Jason Blossom. Everyone's invited, even you." She threw Jughead's invite on the table, nearly landing in his half eaten burger. Jughead was torn about that, if it had landed in his burger, he probably could have gotten Pop Tate to give him another one, but at the same time, he would be losing half of a burger. Was it worth it? 

"Wow...Cheryl..." Veronica began. 

"Now, usually these affairs are only for those whose blood comes from the Blossoms, instead of other families," she flicked her hand at Veronica. "Or those weirdos who don't even have a ministration." 

God, didn't people have better things to do than worry about Jughead's blood? Jughead didn't even worry about his own blood. 

"It's in two days, please wear black. And dress nice." Another barb at Jughead, but he didn't care. 

Cheryl looked as though she was leaving, but Veronica of all people jumped out of her seat. "Cheryl! Before you go. Um. There's a final show at the drive-in tomorrow night, do you think you would want to go? With us?"

Betty stifled a smile, see? All it was going to take was her to care about some other crowd, then she would be gone and things would go back to normal. Cheryl's nut brown eyes went wide with surprise. Had anyone ever asked her to do anything like this before? Betty couldn't remember. 

"Okay," Cheryl said in a voice much smaller than usual. "That would be nice." 

In a flurry of red hair, she was gone, off to deliver more invitations to her brother's funeral. 

"Why did you do that?" Archie asked, his voice laced with wonder. 

"She just lost her brother, and from what I can see, best friend? I think she needs actual friends right now, don't you?" 

 

_It might have been true that Cheryl had lost a part of her, but as the last Scion of the Blossom Family of Blood, hadn't she gained much more?_

_Unless, of course, there was something the Blossoms were hiding..._


End file.
